City Stars Travel To New York To Take On Rochester Saturday
July 24, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Cleveland City Stars News Release
Cleveland, Ohio - The Cleveland City Stars travel to Rochester, NY Saturday at 7:35 p.m. to take on the rival Rochester Rhinos for the final time this season. The clubs have split two league matches, with each side winning 3-0. Cleveland and Rochester also met in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup Tournament where the Rhinos defeated the City Stars 2-1 in overtime.
Rochester won the season's first match in May with Tai Atieno, Johnny Menyongar and Mike Ambersley all recording goals for the visiting Rhinos. The City Stars took the rematch in June with Godfrey Tenoff, Julian Valentin and Joshua Boateng scoring for the home City Stars. Pato Aguilera recorded two of the assists with Ryan Stewart recording the third.
The clubs met for the third time a week later in Rochester in the U.S. Open Cup. Stewart scored on a penalty for the City Stars and Ryan Heins and Kenny Bertz scored for Rochester with Andrew Gregor and Ambersely recording the assists.
The City Stars enter the match in last place in the 11-team USL First Division with a record of 2-11-6. Cleveland had been playing competitive soccer as of late before falling 4-1 Wednesday at Montreal. Prior to hitting the road, the City Stars finished an eight-match home stand at 1-3-4 with no match decided by more than one goal.
Aguilera leads the City Stars with 11 points, including three goals and a league leading five assists. Aguilera played for the Rhinos in 2004 and 2005 and totaled six goals and two assists. With Boateng on trial in Spain, Aguilera and Ricardo Pierre-Louis lead the club in goals with three. Defender Troy Roberts was named to the latest USL-1 Team of the Week for week 15.
Rochester enters the match at 7-5-5 and in fifth place. The Rhinos are led by Menyongar's 13 points and six goals, both of which are good for third in the USL-1. Former Cleveland Crunch and Cleveland Force member John Ball leads Rochester in assists with four. Ball played in Cleveland from 1995-96 through 2004-05 and made three all-star game appearances. Menyongar and Ball were both named to the USL-1 Team of the Week for week 15. It was Menyongar's fourth appearance and Ball's third appearance of the season.
Former City Star Kwame Sarkodie has played in 15 matches for the Rhinos this season, recording one goal and one assist. Sarkodie was a member of last season's USL-2 Championship club in Cleveland.
Saturday's 7:35 p.m. match can be viewed live on USLlive.com. The City Stars return home Saturday August 1st for a 7 p.m. match against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Tickets to the August 1st match are available through clevelandcitystars.com or by calling 330-425-2003.
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